A New Wardrobe for the Child

Have I ever mentioned that my child is a bean pole?? He has this habit growing. It always starts with bouts of eating everything in sight for a period of 3 to 5 months, then he grows 3 or 4 inches taller, but manages to get even skinnier in as many months. Then over the next year and a half he slowly fills out his frame, while barely growing an inch. By the time his waist finally fits his pants, the process starts over, then his belly and ankles are showing again in a blink. 

Sigh.... Due to this growing habit my child only has one pair of semi SCA worthy pants. (yep the plaid PJ's in the last post) He had very few period pants to start with, since we choose to use some snug fitting pjs as mock hose for the last couple of years, and with the hard use they not only do not fit but have disinigrated. He has one red tunic that fits, (the rest were made over two years ago and are unrepairable, and the favored link outfit now is owned by a Mr. Teddy) plus two hand-me-downs tunics from my kid brother in which he drowns in. My brother is stout and rotund to say the least, so even the fit is awkward for my son. Luckily he still has a couple of mantels and hoods that still fit.  

I could try and modify the cotehardie and pants I made him with left over fabric, but the crushed velvet is jarring to my senses, plus the boy says he prefers the simpler viking style tunics. I am trying to get his wardrobe a bit more period. I may still modify the outfit, since it does match his hood and mantle. The pants will be a simple fix, but it is not a priority.

So the pile of fabrics on the right will be the boy's new medieval wardrobe. Most of the fabrics average about a yard and are left overs from other projects. Most are cotton, with the exception of the apple green and the brown linen blends (which I got for a steal for about $3.40/yd), and the grey woolen, which was a $1.50 thrift store find. So I estimate this to be about a $12 pile of fabric. I know it doesn't look like much at the moment, but let me explain what is going on here.          

                                                                                       

The grey woolen at the back will be a "gypsy vest", it will be lined and trimmed with the red cotton, with frog closures. Eventually I will embroider it, I am thinking some eastern style floral along the trim, and larger Chinese dragons on the body as requested by the boy.

The apple green fabric is a 60/40 linen rayon blend, and will become a nicer T-tunic. I am planing a key hole neck with a closure, elbow length sleeves, and a hem that falls just above the knees. It will be embroidered with trim around the hem, neck, and sleeves. My embroidery pattern sketch is at the left, consisting of gold rampant dragons alternating with blue/green parti-colored shields with gold triforces, both lined in red inside white medallions with some additional red and gold work surrounding them.

The green cotton with the gold scroll design will also be a tunic. This one will be long sleeved, with possibly a squared neckline as show in the Thorsbjerg find undershirt shown above right, otherwise it will be a key hole. The hem will fall just above the knees, and the body will be sightly less full. Both the sleeves and neck will be trimmed with something I have in my stash, not sure exactly what yet. On the left is a sketch of how the two tunic layers would work together. Sorry about the fuzzy pics, camera didn't want to cooperate.

The last two fabrics, the yellow striped cotton and the brown 60/40 linen/rayon will both becoming Thorsberg pants.

Aside from the fabrics pictured I also have some undyed cotton muslin, and some white linen blend fabric from my given to me stash, that will become facings, embroidery base, and a couple of Thorsbjerg under tunics. I also have a yard left over a of very fine not quite opaque airy apple green linen/cotton, which I may use for him, but I am debating this, I am not sure it would hold up to an 8 year old boy. All of these items will be made a few sizes big for the boy, with extra hemmed into the wrists, ankles and side seams, so as to last a few years. I am also planning on hand sewing most of the garments since I currently have the time to do so.

 At some point I think I will need to make another pair of pants to round out his wardrobe. But aside from that once these items are completed the boy will have a versatile wardrobe that will easily last for a 3-day camping event, and even sit at a feast, or demo (court is a long shot) without looking like a complete urchin.